The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-02-08
THEWHITERlVHR HORROR
5000 PERSONS VISIT THE SCENE
OF The HOLOCAUST.
Many Anxious Friends and Relations
OF the Victims Look for the
Loved Ones
WHO VENT DOWN WITH THE ILL
FA1ED TRAlt.
The Scenes at the Temp 'Tary Hos
pitfalls Traffic suspended on
the Road.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT, Fe1-'
ruary 6.-P iobably 5000 persons VISIT
ed the scene OF the railroad accident
today. The only trains run were for
the sceommod atom Of officials an ] fer
carrying wounded and dead, conss-
quently all manner OF conveyances
were brought into requisit'oD, many
teams coming from distance OF forty
and f 'ty miles and centering here in
long PROFESSIONS. Seven or eight
bodies were today identified by friends,
and many heartTending scenes were
witnessed. 1t is utterly impo sible to
identify more THAI tn or twelve OF
those recovered, the clothing being en-
tirely gone and the bodies burned to a
crisp. Conductor S .urtevant died to-
day, and his body was taken to his
home by a eps cial train. Mr.. Tewks-
bury, of Randolph, whose leg and arm
were broken, was taken home last
night by special train, aud is re-
ported as doing well. Arrangements
have been completed for sending all
: freight via the Wells River or Rut-
land road until the new trastle, which
was begun today, is completed. All
passenger trains from points north OF
Montreal are to go via the Wells River
road, while for local points between
here and there arrapg 'ments tor trans
ferring by the break with little delay
are made. The damage to rolling
stock is estimated at $50, 900. A
wooden bridge like the old one
will cost $4,000. but will
probably be built with iron, costing
$4,000 The money los, to the road
from the interruption to travel will be
large. The work of recovering wreck
age and bodies has been pushed Wig
orously all day. The ruins nave been
infinitely searched and probably all
recovered that can he. The iron work
of the cars has all been pulled over
and cleared. The total number Of
bodies recovered todsy is five -one
woman and four men. DIS. Grinnell
and Bingham, Of Burling Oh, have to
day thoroughly examined the chaIred
remains of victims thus far recovered
for the purpose Of sscertaining the
number. They report it to be, up to
this morning, just twenty-seven,
which with tue five found today,
makes thirty-tWo recovered thus far.
This statement is verified by Lieut..
Gov, Fuller.
Mr.. Fuller is doing everything in
his power for all sUfferers Hs has
been instrumental in establishing a
bureau of information. All commu-
nications regarding passengers shoul 4
be addressed to Henry E. Tinker,
Station Agent, White River Junction,
VT. Mr.. Fuller also iDdorses the
statement that from all infor nation
obtsinable at this time from connect
ing road ticket agents aud survivors
of the disaster, it is believed the total
number Of souls on board the i'll fated
: train, including train men, was eighty
one. OF these thnty-two ara &C
counted for as above, thirty five are in
the ca OF surgeons, one died today
and nine left on the same train with
the uninjured, leaving only four IN
accounted for. 1t is understood there
were some children without tickets,
so the above figures may be slightly
changed. Every article of clio hing,
scrap of paper or other things found is
being carefully saved for the purpose
OF identifeli IN, and parties having
friends unaccounted Tor will be al
forded every means CT clew to the
identification of lost or un'
known. The best of police protection
has been ven from the first. Some
of the wreck has bsel roped of, a1d
ths Sheriff, assisted by numerous tpe
cial deputies, permits only woIkmer
and interested known parties inside
1t is believed that 30 far no thievinG
has occurred. Little idea can bt
formed of the difficulties in The way o.
obtaining report Of tle accident tina
would give the public correct idea o
the condition OF things at the time o.
the accident, aud ever since the Their
MON ster has re istere1 from 30 to 10
below zero. The suffering from colo
was intense. There was only two O.
three farm houses within two miles o
the wreck and these ave filed will
wounded. 0thtrs are scattered aoDi
for miles, with no means OF communi
cation except by train. All the roat
officials are on the ground and every
thing possible is being done for tn
dead. Hundreds of people searching
for their frineds are here, and nearl,
every newspaper iu New England ha
a representative at the scene OF tn
wreck. Work was suspended at darl
last, night owing to the severit
of the weather, but was re
sumed this morning. The water il
White river, at the place Of the acci
dent, is not more than five or six fee
deep, with but little current, and tn
ice is perhaps fourteen inches thick
The falling Of the cars upon it and tn
heat of the cars upon it and the nes
of the fire melted the ice clean, bu
little Of the personal effects of the pas
sengers being left to reveal the ider
tity OF their owners. A compariso
of the tickets taken up by the cor
ductors of the incoming and connect
ing trains largely reduces the numbe
OF persons on the train. Conducto
Andrew Bean, of the Boston an
Lowell railroad, gives the exact nun
Der OF tickets taken up for points b'
yond where the accident occurred 9
thirty-six, OF which sixt zen were co
lected in the car Pilgrim, from BostoI
Conductor Barrett, OF the ConneciicU
River railroad, counts his as juI
thirty, twelve of these being in th
car st. Albans, from Springfield. Tn
leaves only the very few who prol
ably came over the PassumPsic an
those starting from here, pIobab y nj
exceeding ten in all, besides the raj
road men, who were on the train. {
those, thirty-fiye are accounted for (
among the wounded, and the numbt
of those in the smoker is variousl
estimated at from forty to fifty.
Charles II. Pierce, OF this place, eli
gineer of the wrecked train, is aboV
S8 years old. He has been employe
on the road as engineer for flurlee
years, and is considered one OF u
company's most faithful employe
All accounts agree with his statemel
that, although the train was about
hour late and had been running pc
haps thirty miles an hour, yet at Il
time of the accident he had slowt
up to about fifteen or twenty miles s